This Week Elsewhere – 4/20/18

The Hollywood Reporter

How ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ Is Selling the “End Is Near” for a Neverending Series: As part of this big moment, the movie has also been billed as, to quote Marvel’s press materials, “the most ambitious crossover event in history.” While that claim has certainly provided a rich vein of material for memes and other ribbing, it’s also hard to argue with. Characters from all 18 MCU films will come together, bringing to the big screen the kind of crossover that comics fans always enjoy when the threat to the planet is too big for any one character or team to handle.

Both of those themes have been communicated throughout the marketing to varying degrees. Here’s how.

Cinematic Slant

Cinematic Slant is where I write about movies, including the campaign recaps I’ve been doing since 2004 along with other news and opinions.

I Feel Pretty – Marketing Recap: The poster is boring, the trailer a one-note gag that’s not funny. The website is uninspired. The whole thing just screams like the studio not only didn’t know how to sell the concept but was actively trying to ignore the movie as actually happening. Schumer is a funny comedian and actor, but this gives her nothing to do and seems to be actively working against her “accept who you are” message.

Cannes Needs Netflix More than Netflix Needs Cannes: It’s a remarkably short-sighted move. Not by Netflix, but by Cannes. Seeming to act at the behest of exhibitors upset that anything not projected onto a screen for a mass audience would be qualified as a “film,” Cannes has put itself firmly outside the innovation that’s happening in the media industry as a whole and the film industry specifically.

Pass Over – Marketing Recap: It’s too bad the movie isn’t getting a bigger push because it seems, sadly, all-too-relevant given recent reports of black men arrested in a Starbucks for no offense other than being black. That’s more or less, at least based on the marketing, exactly what the story is about.

MoviePass’ New Mission: Power to the People: MoviePass seems to have found common cause with studios, who for years have been waging war against Rotten Tomatoes even as the site itself is partially owned by Warner Bros. Hollywood has complained that negative ratings on the site have tanked their blockbusters, not seeming to realize (or care) that aggregating the reviews of outside critics isn’t the same as actively working against a movie.

Super Troopers 2 – Marketing Recap: t’s hard, though, to get past the fact that whenever given the chance the focus turns not to this new movie but to the old one. All of those video sizzle reels that revisit the original, the way the trailers are stacked with jokes pulled from the first movie…it’s enough to make you concerned that this one doesn’t do anything new.

The Solo Marketing Has a Beat You Can Dance To: Is this a trick being played by the trailer editors to create a sense of familiarity (humans feel comforted by beats because it reminds us of the heartbeat we listened to for nine months)? Probably. Is it a little bit of showing off by someone who thought they were super-clever? Also, probably. Doesn’t matter.

Kodachrome – Marketing Recap: The dynamic between Harris and Sudeikis is really the main value proposition displayed here. Sudeikis brings that same attitude of being a spring constantly on the verge of uncoiling he’s had in other films to add a spark to what otherwise seems like a story we’ve seen before about the burdens of carrying around the scars left by uninterested and absent fathers. Matching that is Harris, who offers his same effortless attitude to the interplay. The interplay between those two makes the underuse of Olsen all the more notable in a campaign that offers a kind of hangdog energy and charm to the audience.

He Tampered In God’s Domain: I’m not sure how Rampage deals with the actions of the scientists who create the monsters or dispenses judgment on their shoulders. What I do know is that in The Cloverfield Paradox the actions of those involved are dealt with just as surely, though possibly in different ways.